Beauty and Bounty... Is this the limit of our understanding?

[Aleric]

From the President's speech tonight;

"we need a long-term plan to restore the unique beauty and bounty of this region."

Is that really the depth of our environmental awareness as a nation? Is Mother Earth really just a whore to be bought, admired, used and discarded? Maybe I shouldn't expect more from a species that does exactly that to itself... or maybe I shouldn't watch Avatar anymore....

In any case, our environmental awareness needs to rise far above the "save the prettiest" mentality that dominates the environmentalist marketing of this country. It's time we started teaching our kids and their parents biology so that people understand that they have a real connection to the earth.

[XemaSab]

1. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Kolesar]

2. There is nothing wrong with the president's phrasing

welcome to our forum :hi:

[Aleric]

3. quod erat demonstrandum

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[stuntcat]

4. I'm afraid it's a Human thing,

..to think natural things aren't worthy, except to our perception or our use.


kick and rec.

[Nihil]

6. I was going to point out that your comment isn't true across the board ...

... but then realised that it is no more incorrect than any other single
statement that could be said about "humans". There will always be a subset
that do X while the others do Y.

Maybe *we* are the aberration?

People who care about something other than profit & exploitation.

People who want to preserve land, sea, air (and creatures therein)
in an unspoiled condition.

People who appreciate the beauty of nature rather than just seeing
another business opportunity for more cancerous short-term growth.

We certainly seem to be in the minority.

:-(

[Shireling]

5. How about respect and admiration

to all of our sea creatures and coral reefs. Our Mother Earth speaks to us of peace, nurtures us when we are sad, gives us hope when faced with insane humanity. Why must we abuse her?

Yes, she is beautiful and bountiful, but oh so much more.

We are so out of touch with her. That is why we suffer.


:hippie:

[Aleric]

7. I agree but...

I tend to agree with your sentiments but you're talking about teaching quantum mechanics to people who cant do basic math. We're talking about people who don't know where their food comes from. They don't know what oxygen is or how the CO2 cycle works. They think that the nearby park "isn't nature". (True story from a friend.) They don't see rats or roaches as part of nature, they only see pests. They prize their purple martins but want to exterminate falcons and hawks to protect the song birds. They want to conduct genetic engineering to change all predators (like big cats) to vegetarians. All of these are true stories from my own experience.

Beauty and spirituality are great gateways to inspire people to develop environmental awareness but those methods are fragile. If they are not backed up by real understanding and connection then the people who are drawn to them are easily drawn away by the next fad.